Fire

In the event of a fire loss, it immediately becomes the home or business owners main concern to prevent further damage.  Generally, this begins with the board up of broken windows and doors, followed with the tarping of the roof, to prevent further damage from weather. For safety purposes, cleanup of broken glass, nails and debris is completed to ensure no one gets hurt. If cold weather has set in, the water system may need to be drained and winterized to prevent pipes from freezing. If power has been disconnected in any way, an electrician may need to come out to set up temporary lighting. If the heating system has not been damaged, it can be serviced to help out the drying process, or if it has been compromised, a temporary heating system may be installed to help out the drying process to prevent further damage.  These are just some of the many steps we can take to help immediately following the loss after a fire.  All these services are covered and paid for by the insurance company and are the insured’s obligation to perform.  The insured will not be required to pay for any of these services until they are compensated by the insurance company. 

Our main goal is to prevent as much damage as possible. After the building is secure, we immediately want to get drying equipment into the building to prevent further damage from moisture.

At this point we will then meet with an insurance adjuster to determine what other emergency measures would be needed, such as opening certain areas that could potentially have wet insulation behind walls, setting up rescue mats to dry hard wood floors, or wall cavity drying. 

We will also agree on the salvageable clothing items that will go to a dry cleaning plant with a specialized focus in cleaning clothing from fire losses utilizing modern methods. Of course, many items may be a total loss and we will inventory those items separately.

Our estimators will then meet with the insurance adjuster to determine the “scope of loss”. This will be a complete itemized list showing in detail, the quantities and unit costs for everything that was damaged by the fire. It is done using the latest software estimating system used by both us and the insurance company. Having us there physically to ensure nothing is missed and all is recorded for estimate entry.

Once we have agreed upon the scope of damage we can then sit down with the insured and discuss how the building will be repaired to either its pre loss condition or in many cases, certain changes or upgrades will be worked out.

When an agreement has been reached on how to repair the building, we will apply for the building permit and begin the repair process. Weekly on-site meetings are set up to review progress and a construction schedule is set. Remember the insurance company wants you back into your home as soon as possible as well and will give a time limit on repair work to be completed.
On most losses, the owners will be relocated to temporary housing by a professional relocation company used by the insurance company.